Research Essay

What is an Annotated Bibliography?

An Annotated Bibliography is similar to a Works Cited (Links to an external site.) list. But, for each entry cited, you also include a summary of the text and one or two sentences that explain how the source is important for your essay. 

Why write an Annotated Bibliography?

An annotated bibliography helps you to organize your sources. Not only will you get your Works Cited list written, but you will also have a succinct explanation of each text that you plan to cite and an idea of how the source will be used in your essay. And, because the  sources you find will find fairly easily on a 2-3 page annotated bibliography, you can refer to them as you write to remind yourself of the texts you have researched. Then, you can go to the original source text as needed. Also, I’d like to get a sense that you are on the right track with your essay.

What & When will I turn in?

When you turn in your annotated bibliography, I would also like you to include links of any online articles you are using . It is likely that you will have books, too, but you obviously won’t have links for those.

DO NOT COPY THE ABSTRACT FROM A DATABASE. You will need to write your own summary of the text to show your understanding of it. I will be able to see the abstract easily and won’t give you credit for any source that you annotate by merely copying the abstract from the database. 

Your annotated bibliography is due by 11:59 PM Wednesday, May 27th. While that's not for a few weeks, you'll want to be aware of it as you research so you can create the annotated bibliography as you find sources.

Grading the Annotated Bibliography

The annotated bibliography is worth 50 points 

To receive credit for the Annotated Bibliography, it will need:

• to be formatted in MLA
• a "Claim Statement" (basically, a sentence that sums up what the current focus, or thesis is, for your persuasive essay. I understand that your claim statement may change, but I should know what tentative point of view you are taking on your issue and what your specific issue is when I read your claim statement).
• at least 5 credible sources that are correctly punctuated and summarized in your own words
• one or two sentences per source that explains why the source is important for your issue/essay

If you find sources after you turn in your annotated bibliography, you can add them to the Works Cited List that is submitted with your final draft. 

 

Navigating the Research Essay

avigating Your Research Essay -- Refer to this in the next few weeks as you begin work on your essay

Research often involves much more time than you realize (so start now), but also important is knowing when to stop researching and begin writing.

I recommend that you begin finding research for at least 30 minutes a day. It's better if you can work in relatively short amounts of time over many days than a LONG time in one or two days. By working an hour or so four or five days a week, you give your brain a chance to take in all the information and process it. Trying to do all the work in long hours is too overwhelming and will result in bad writing. 

Expect the following as you research:

• Finding articles you will actually use takes *much* longer than you think it will. On average, you will need to read through 5-7 articles for every one article you actually use
• It takes time (a few hours total) to understand how to use research databases; give yourself an hour or two to figure out how to use them
• Good key words and phrases save a lot of time; ask the librarians to help you as you search- they will save you HOURS in this regard
• Your focus should evolve and become much more specific as you research and take notes. Keep a driving question in mind- what do you really want to happen about your issue? How does the information you're researching help you think about the specific things that could be done and why?

Resources (Week 7 will focus on research sources)

• Make friends with the Library. The librarians, plus the library website, are there to HELP. Take advantage of these valuable resources. http://libguides.southseattle.edu/homeLinks to an external site.
• It's important that you choose articles or essays that are credible. Pages 251-258 in From Critical Thinking to Argument gives guidance on source use

Staying Focused It can be easy to lose focus, particularly when you are quickly reading through tons of texts that may or may not relate to your topic. You might find yourself being led by the ideas of the texts so much that you forget what you are writing about. So, always come back to your topic and purpose. Have a clear idea about what you are trying to do/say/explain in your essay. Have this near you as you research, plus your initial, and subsequent, idea(s) about what you want to talk about.

Staying Organized The Annotated Bibliography (due in a few weeks) has you choose which texts you’re using, provide all their information and a summary of each text.). It’s like an extended Works Cited. I recommend printing out all the articles (or emailing them to yourself and then printing), plus keep any books in one place, so that, as you decide which one(s) you want to use, you’ll be able to locate them easily. You’ll need to be able to cite all of the information that I part of a Works Cited entry (like the publisher and the publication date, etc., so make sure you have all of that). And, gather more than you think you’ll need and keep it in one place. Chances are you’ll eliminate a handful of texts you thought might work. It’s better to have a longer annotated bibliography that you cut back on then have to go back and research once the writing has begun.

Writing/Drafting While you'll likely take notes and draft as you research; however, at some point you need to decide to focus on writing rather than research. This doesn’t mean that you won’t be able to keep researching, but try and do the bulk of your research towards the beginning rather than closer to when the bigger assignments are due to give yourself time to synthesize the information in writing.